I took the GMAT Prep Exam 1 today, and for the 3rd time running, I scored a 570.
Situation: My exam date is on the 24th of this month i.e. this coming Friday. Wonderful. Time to faint.
To be honest though, I'm not feeling tense oddly enough (with a 570 score, I guess it's best not to feel anything for a while), and after a 10 minute introspection (half of which was spent devouring a red velvet cupcake), I decided to write this post as an antithesis to the usual 700+ score debriefs that drive this forum and though my awe-inspiring mistakes, ensure that people who are starting out with prep steer clear of them. You've probably heard all them all and most of the points are intuitive but we just don't learn do we!!!!
Please step away from the door:
1. Dragging your prep on for way to long - I've been prepping on-off for about a year now. Ok that's a lie, I've been on-off for about a year and a half. And every, single time I think about it, I want to go back in time and kick my silly little ass for not taking the exam seriously from Day 1. Once you decide to head down this path, that's it. Give it your all for the next 2-3 months. If you procrastinate like I did, you'll end up giving up on your life, your free time, and your piece of mind until you take the blasted thing. I could have worked on extracurricular activities (something that's still a blank on my sheet), slept more, read more, or just do anything but try to pretend to study!
2. Take a prep exam as soon as you're done reviewing the basics - I'm so used to exams that test you on rote learning. Learn your numbers and dates and then you vomit them out on exam day. But not the GMAT. Noooo. While I knew what to expect, I did not expect the test to be so ...harsh! So you should know that the impending 24th is actually the second time I've booked the exam. My first date was actually way back in August of last year but I had to skip it because of work commitments. No loss there though because back then, I took my first GMAT prep test a whole 2 days before the exam. Yep. 2 days. And how you know why I call myself 'iissosmarts'. And that's the first time I received my first 570. I was/am an avid time-logger though. Every time I practiced any problems, I always kept track of my time. But I learnt that that tracking time for a set of 10 questions is no way to prepare for a 75 minute session.
3. Don't listen to them. Listen to me - book the exam only when you're prepared. I'm warning you! - Almost every post I've come across says that you should go ahead and just book a date - it's your self-imposed time bomb and will push you towards making sure that you stay the course on your prep, and while that makes total sense, it obviously hasn't worked for me and I'm now $500 down the hole. The past 2 months have been crazy for me in terms of work and I thought that by pushing myself to set a date, I would in turn push myself to stick to my schedule. Can you say EPIC FAIL?! I haven't even taken a IR mock test yet!!!!!
4. Be a little wary of the posts that are on here - Especially when you're starting out, don't start hitting up the 700+ type-questions-list thread like I did. It intimidated me and added a lot of unnecessary stress. Without even solidifying my concepts, I tried to solve some of the tough ones and I just got more confused, especially when a few were written in something resembling hieroglyphs.
These are currently the only 4 points I can think of (it is 1.11am here). Hopefully I don't have to add anymore. More than anything, this is a post for me - to motivate myself because I am going to continue. Given how badly I've behaved with my prep, I know I can do better, much better. But I'm not going to cancel my exam date. If nothing else, I'll at least familiarize myself with the test environment. So I'm going to head to the exam center, sign in, and do the best I can. I might see Mr. 570 again for the fourth time, but I don't care because I'll be seeing his sorry ass for the last time!!![]()
Situation: My exam date is on the 24th of this month i.e. this coming Friday. Wonderful. Time to faint.
To be honest though, I'm not feeling tense oddly enough (with a 570 score, I guess it's best not to feel anything for a while), and after a 10 minute introspection (half of which was spent devouring a red velvet cupcake), I decided to write this post as an antithesis to the usual 700+ score debriefs that drive this forum and though my awe-inspiring mistakes, ensure that people who are starting out with prep steer clear of them. You've probably heard all them all and most of the points are intuitive but we just don't learn do we!!!!
Please step away from the door:
1. Dragging your prep on for way to long - I've been prepping on-off for about a year now. Ok that's a lie, I've been on-off for about a year and a half. And every, single time I think about it, I want to go back in time and kick my silly little ass for not taking the exam seriously from Day 1. Once you decide to head down this path, that's it. Give it your all for the next 2-3 months. If you procrastinate like I did, you'll end up giving up on your life, your free time, and your piece of mind until you take the blasted thing. I could have worked on extracurricular activities (something that's still a blank on my sheet), slept more, read more, or just do anything but try to pretend to study!
2. Take a prep exam as soon as you're done reviewing the basics - I'm so used to exams that test you on rote learning. Learn your numbers and dates and then you vomit them out on exam day. But not the GMAT. Noooo. While I knew what to expect, I did not expect the test to be so ...harsh! So you should know that the impending 24th is actually the second time I've booked the exam. My first date was actually way back in August of last year but I had to skip it because of work commitments. No loss there though because back then, I took my first GMAT prep test a whole 2 days before the exam. Yep. 2 days. And how you know why I call myself 'iissosmarts'. And that's the first time I received my first 570. I was/am an avid time-logger though. Every time I practiced any problems, I always kept track of my time. But I learnt that that tracking time for a set of 10 questions is no way to prepare for a 75 minute session.
3. Don't listen to them. Listen to me - book the exam only when you're prepared. I'm warning you! - Almost every post I've come across says that you should go ahead and just book a date - it's your self-imposed time bomb and will push you towards making sure that you stay the course on your prep, and while that makes total sense, it obviously hasn't worked for me and I'm now $500 down the hole. The past 2 months have been crazy for me in terms of work and I thought that by pushing myself to set a date, I would in turn push myself to stick to my schedule. Can you say EPIC FAIL?! I haven't even taken a IR mock test yet!!!!!
4. Be a little wary of the posts that are on here - Especially when you're starting out, don't start hitting up the 700+ type-questions-list thread like I did. It intimidated me and added a lot of unnecessary stress. Without even solidifying my concepts, I tried to solve some of the tough ones and I just got more confused, especially when a few were written in something resembling hieroglyphs.
These are currently the only 4 points I can think of (it is 1.11am here). Hopefully I don't have to add anymore. More than anything, this is a post for me - to motivate myself because I am going to continue. Given how badly I've behaved with my prep, I know I can do better, much better. But I'm not going to cancel my exam date. If nothing else, I'll at least familiarize myself with the test environment. So I'm going to head to the exam center, sign in, and do the best I can. I might see Mr. 570 again for the fourth time, but I don't care because I'll be seeing his sorry ass for the last time!!